July 14, 2002.
Catching Up


So much happening lately. I'm running ragged and trying to catch my breath.

For starters, a few weeks ago I turned the corner onto my parents' street and there was a For Sale sign in their front yard. Afternoons like this one, people cruise slowly through the neighborhood and stop periodically in front of the house and pop out of their car to see how much they might have to pay to own it. It's weird. My parents have lived in that house for more than 15 years. They've been thinking about selling it for almost half that time. Still, it feels like an abrupt change.

---

I went shopping yesterday. I was trying on some things in the dressing room of a department store. I love the kinds of stuff you overhear in dressing rooms. They are a spectacular stage for those mother/daughter dysfunctions to come right out.

"No, mommy, I think you look nice! I think you look good and nice!"

"You aren't allowed to wear black. A young girl your age needs to wear bright colors and look pretty. Put a smile on that face."

"Oh, my God. This is not going to work."

"Ugh. I just want to go home and be happy."

---

We put my brothers on a plane bound for California this morning. They are going to pack up all my grandmother's belongings (china cabinet, electric organ, sideboard...) into a big truck and drive slowly back to Georgia. My grandmother has bought a condo just five miles from here. It's going to be great having her so close. I loaded the boys up with ten or twelve episodes of This American Life on cassette and a little tape player. That should help them with the sweltering thirty-five-hour drive back across the country. I wish I could have gone with them.

Five people at my company got laid off last week. Five people. That's almost one-third of the work force. By our standards, a total bloodbath. The agency went from seventeen to twelve people, just like that. I feel like a soldier who narrowly missed an untimely end on the battlefield — like I could feel the bullets whizzing right past my ear. And we're going to be running a skeleton crew at work this week as two additional art directors are out of town. Sheesh. I feel like I should take a nap or something to prepare for it. Or do some push-ups or something.

Part of me hates to do this, but I'm laying off the journal for the rest of the month. I'll be watering the flowers and scrambling to keep up at work. And Tom and I also out of town for a week and a half at the end of the month. So keep me bookmarked... and I'll see you again at the beginning of August.